Most of you probably don’t know this, but a fun fact about me is that one of my favorite holiday’s to celebrate is Independence Day (a close second to Easter)… so for me, not being in America to celebrate was kinda a big deal… but what I realized when being in China instead of back home on July 4th is that I have this incredible opportunity to reflect on what it means to truly be American. Although we are submerged in the Chinese culture and learning so much about their identity we can also learn so much about who we are and what we think defines us as well. It is safe to say there was no “hot dog contests” and pool parties to attend yesterday.. rather a whole lot of pinyin to be learned and tea to be drank. This is different from my usual- but after all, change is where we find out who we are, right? Living in China these past 2 weeks has offered the greatest amount of change in culture and environment I have set myself in, since I came to Chicago from New York (which still isn’t that great of change- city life is city life!). I have had the privilege of creating new friendships from people of similar and different majors/minors and even befriended other foreigners studying here! So far, it has been an amazing first 2 weeks from traveling to fun field trips, to joining pick up soccer games with locals who don’t speak a lick of english, to late night chats with new friends, to trying out new Chinese dishes that I never thought I would have (Yes, I tried duck…no, I did not like it). If I haven’t tried these things, I would have never known these different facts about myself!
Chinese lesson #1: Never say No- always be open try new things.
Till next time friends!
Jules